1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to connection oriented client/server negotiation protocols. More specifically, it pertains to Telnet negotiation protocols for display and printer sessions.
2. Background Art
There is a need in the art to enable a Telnet client when attempting to connect to a Telnet server to obtain connection status information including, for example, why did a connection request fail; why did a client auto-sign-on request fail; or what is the name of the virtual terminal display device assigned to this client. Auto-sign-on requests may fail, for example, because of an incorrect password or profile, a disabled or unknown profile, required encryption, expired user, and so forth.
This traditional Telnet support is accomplished in accordance with the following suite of Network Working Group Request for Comments (RFCs): Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, “Telnet Protocol Specification”, STD 8, RFC 854, May 1983; Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, “Telnet Option Specifications”, STD 8, RFC 855, May 1983; Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, “Telnet Binary Transmission”, STD 27, RFC 856, May 1983; VanBokkeln, J., “Telnet Terminal-Type Option”, RFC 1091, February 1989; Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, “Telnet End of Record Option”, RFC 885, December 1983; Alexander, S., “Telnet Environment Option”, RFC 1572, January 1994; Chmielewski, P., “5250 Telnet Interface”, RFC 1205, February 1991; Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, “Telnet Supress Go Ahead Option”, STD 29, RFC 858, May 1983; and Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, “Assigned Numbers”, STD 2, RFC 1700, October 1994.
The above suite of referenced RFCs jointly and severally fall short of providing an understanding of why a connection request has failed, and such is needed in the art to enable a client to correct the problem and retry a connection request such that it will be successful.
Similarly, when a connection request has succeeded, the client may need to know the name of the virtual terminal display device assigned to this client. Knowing the device name of a client connection is useful for audit logging, billing and error analysis for connected clients.
Heretofore, screen scraping technology has been employed to acquire a device name, relying on the screen layout to analyze the location of the device name on the screen. If the sign-on panel is altered such that the device name is in a different location, screen scraping fails. Also, this screen scraping technology does not work when the sign-on panel is bypassed.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for establishing a client/server connection.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for negotiating a client/server connection in a connection-oriented protocol.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for requesting and providing a confirmation record selectively including the virtual device name assigned by a server to a client device or an error code representing the cause of failure of connection.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for enabling a client to assign a session name to the GUI window for the client emulator responsive to a virtual device name assigned by a server to the client.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system and method for providing to a client the device name assigned by a server to the client connection for audit logging, billing and error analysis.